Search results

A comprehensive analysis of a flexible hybrid assembly system (FHAS) where automated devices and human operators interact is presented. A computer simulation programme and ANOVA were conducted to identify which factors significantly affect the measures of performance of the system. The results clearly indicated that certain factors have a more significant effect on the measures of performance than the others. A classification of the relative significance of input factors affecting such a system is made. In order to investigate the generality of the results, alternative station configurations and factor levels are examined. The outcome shows that the results are applicable to different configurations of FHAS.

The purpose of this study is twofold: first to demonstrate the application of an algorithm using contextual data to ascertain consumer personality traits; and second to explore the factors impacting the relationship between personality traits and advertisement persuasiveness.

A mixed-method approach that comprises two distinct yet complementary studies. The first uses quantitative methods and is based on a sample of 35,264 retail banking customers. Study 2 explores the findings that emerge from Study 1 using qualitative methods.

This paper finds that matching consumer personality with congruent advertising messages can lead to more effective consumer persuasion for most personality types. For consumers who exhibit neurotic personality traits, ameliorating perceived risks during purchasing and providing cues for social acceptance and goal attainment are important factors for advertising effectiveness. These factors also had a positive impact on the purchasing behaviour of extroverted consumers.

This research focusses on understanding purchasing behaviour based on the most dominant personality trait. However, people are likely to exhibit a combination of most or even all of the Big Five personality traits.

Building on advances in natural language processing, enabling the identification of personality from language, this study demonstrates the possibility of influencing consumer behaviour by matching machine inferred personality to congruent persuasive advertising. It is one of the few studies to use contextual instead of social media data to capture individual personality. Such data serves to capture an authentic rather than contrived persona. Further, the study identifies the factors that may moderate this relationship and thereby provides an explanation of why some personality traits exhibit differences in purchasing behaviour from those that are anticipated by existing theory.

Although the idea that people are more likely to be responsive to advertising messages that are congruent with their personality type has already been successfully applied by advertising practitioners and documented by advertising scholars, this study extends existing research by identifying the factors that may moderate this relationship and thereby provides an explanation why some personality traits may exhibit differences in purchasing behaviour from those that are anticipated by existing theory.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of studies on strategic consensus along manufacturing competitive priorities. Based on this analysis, a new methodology to measure strategic consensus on manufacturing competitive priorities that is more consistent with mainstream operations management theory is proposed. The paper also includes novel proposals for future research.

The new methodology and proposals for research are mainly based on a literature review of previous studies on strategic consensus regarding manufacturing competitive priorities and also on relevant research and works in the field of operations management.

Previous methodologies used to measure strategic consensus regarding manufacturing competitive priorities are mainly based on studies in the business strategy field. Thus, these methodologies are deemed as inadequate in the operations management field. It is also found that there are very few studies that have analysed this topic in the operations management field. Moreover, since the methodologies used in those studies are based on previous research in the field of business strategy, the results of the reviewed papers are considered as questionable.

For academics, the paper and its results imply a change in the methodologies and research used to study the issue of strategic consensus on manufacturing competitive priorities. The lack of research into this topic is also observed. More research and studies on this theme are needed. For practitioners, the methodology proposed in the paper could be utilised in order to assess the employees' knowledge of the relationships between manufacturing capabilities inside manufacturing firms.

To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first review paper into this under‐researched theme in the operations management field. The paper also presents the first methodology that incorporates mainstream theory and research in the field of operations management into the measurement of strategic consensus on manufacturing competitive priorities.

Homelessness has many causes and also is stigmatized in the United States, leading to much misunderstanding of its causes and what policy solutions may ameliorate the problem. The problem is of course getting worse and impacting many communities far removed from the West Coast cities the authors examine in this study. This analysis examines the socioeconomic variables influencing homelessness on the West Coast in recent years. The authors utilize a panel fixed effects model that explicitly includes measures of healthcare access and availability to account for the additional health risks faced by individuals who lack shelter. The authors estimate a spatial error model (SEM) in order to better understand the impacts that systemic shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have on a variety of factors that directly influence productivity and other measures of welfare such as income inequality, housing supply, healthcare investment, and homelessness.

The conclusions summarize the main empirical evidence that emerged in the book and put forward final reflections and some recommendations for scholars and policymakers. First, the reader is reminded that the book focuses on how a desirable and ambitious agenda that contemplates a progress-oriented policy system is feasible when confronted with the challenges of its implementation and the related problem of coordination between the goals it postulates. The purpose of the concluding chapter is to extrapolate the findings from the individual analyses and synthesize them into a single interpretative proposal centered on two analytical pillars. The first is the analysis and management of the complexity generated by wickedness, through the reconstruction of types of complexity and consequences that the policymaker must acquire in terms of problem setting. The second is the analysis of the skills needed to manage said complexity, distinguishing between linear and nonlinear skills. These are the skills that the policymaker must acquire in terms of problem-solving. Both problem setting and problem solving are summarized in some final recommendations on what to do to improve the feasibility and effectiveness of sustainable development policies: the pragmatic culture of government and some supporting institutional tools, the importance of training as a lever of change, and the building of knowledge infrastructures in terms of evidence-based policymaking.

The importance of including victims of abuse within prevention responses has recently received some attention within the sport sector. This chapter reports on a UK initiative, funded by a national sport agency, which aimed to provide a platform for individuals with a ‘lived experience’ of child abuse in a sport context to deliver awareness-raising events for stakeholders within the sport sector. Interviews were conducted with the participants to explore their experiences. This chapter reports on their primary motivations for participation, the concerns and anxieties they experienced, as well as wider issues relating to engagement with the sport sector. The discussion reflects on the challenges and potential of such activity and will be of interest to those with a personal experience of abuse, practitioners and researchers working with survivor-activists and those working in safeguarding and child/athlete welfare more broadly.